


Something Sweet

by muffinsofdiscontent



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2015-11-01
Packaged: 2018-04-29 12:38:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5127959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muffinsofdiscontent/pseuds/muffinsofdiscontent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>7th (or 8th, dont get picky on me lol) year fic. <br/>Draco just wanted to keep his head down and get through the year to prove to himself that he could. Harry just wanted one normal year. Is that too much to ask for? Well of course it is. ;) <br/>Draco becomes an unlikely friend and confidant and Harry finds himself struggling with the acceptance of his quickly growing feelings for the Slytherin. <br/>Can a relationship that started out with so much baggage from the past work out?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first multi chapter fic and my first attempt at a semi serious one. Bear with me as Im sure it has a lot of room for improvement. Anyway, I enjoy writing it so I hope you enjoy reading it. :)  
> Also, I hope this is an irrelevant request, but ill put it here anyway since Ive seen some comments get awful nasty.  
> THIS IS A MALE/MALE FIC AND THATS STATED CLEARLY. DONT LIKE DONT CLICK. 
> 
> Okay go!  
> If you like it, leave me a comment. Comments give me smiles!

    Harry sighed as he settled back against the comfortable cushions of the Hogwarts Express. It felt strange to be sitting alone. Hermione and Ron had promised to stop by his compartment later, but he doubted they’d remember. This was the first year they'd been a couple for the train ride and Harry figured they’d be far too preoccupied to wander around other compartments.Harry had boarded the train at the very last moment. He and Ginny had been arguing when they had all arrived and by the time she had stormed off and Harry had boarded, all the compartments were full save for one near the very front. Well, at least he thought it had been empty. Looking around properly for the first time, he noticed a sleeping student with a black wool coat covering all but the long legs and expensive looking shoes.

    Oh well, he thought to himself. Perhaps they wouldn’t wake up during the trip and he could slip out without the mystery student ever noticing his presence. As he stared out the window watching rolling waves of green countryside flying past, he thought about Ginny. Harry knew the argument hadn’t really been her fault, no matter how much he wanted to stay mad at her. They had broken up over the summer. Harry gave her the reason of needing to take some time to focus on himself. The war had never broken him down but it had certainly worn him thin. Harry realized he barely knew who he was without the defining goal, the threat, the ever present clock ticking towards a confrontation. Finally having the room to breathe after the defeat of Voldemort Harry found he very much wanted to decide what he wanted out of life for no one and nothing but himself. Ginny said she understood, initially, but when Harry had come to stay at the Burrow in the last week of summer hols, she had been expecting a reconciliation. And Harry had tried to give her what she wanted. When Ginny had begun to expect other aspects of their relationship to resume as they had in the past though, Harry couldn’t quite reciprocate.

    Even though they had slept together a handful of times the previous year their short week of attempted rekindling had been a massive failure. Ginny grew steadily more frustrated and angry until today when she had flown completely off the handle. After the yelling about how callous he was to play with her feelings as he had, she had crossed her arms and looked into his eyes, her voice dropping into a whisper as she asked “Is it really that Im moving too fast for you Harry, or is that you aren’t attracted to me? Or any girl for that matter?” and stalked away from him to find a compartment far away from him. Her words had hit home in more ways than one and Harry felt uneasy with the small voice in his head agreeing with her. Was she right? Okay, he thought to himself, she was probably dead on. Hell he knew she was. He was bent and it hadn’t been fair to Gin to lead her on the way he had when he had known for years that he found blokes much more appealing. But Harry had denied it even to himself. He still wasn’t quite sure he was ready to admit it to anyone else. Forgetting he wasn’t actually alone in the compartment he laughed out loud a little as he muttered “Guess quiddich is out this year, or at least the showers.” The air rushed out of his lungs as he was reminded of his mystery companion, who drawled “Whats that about showers Potter?” Slowly pulling his eyes up from the floor, Harry was staring at the smirking face of the last blonde git he wanted in his compartment.


	2. Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note to add, this story is largely unbeta'd   
> I do send all my chapters to my best friend for his opinion before I post them though and he's hopefully going to come on board as a coauthor down the line since the plan has been for us to write this together. Im just getting us started. :)   
> Also, Im not used to the wonky formatting this site does, and it throws off my spacing and paragraphs since I'm writing from an outdated version of Microsoft Word and importing wont work.   
> But please excuse grammar/spelling errors, and if you spot something as far as OOC or continuity issues, feel free to shoot me a direct message.   
> Thanks for reading!

    The summer after the final battle had been a hard one. The Malfoy family had experienced the biggest fall from grace of any of the Dark Lords former followers. Many of Voldemort’s supporters had claimed to have been Imperiused this time as well, although advancements in the Spell Damage Detection branch of magical healing had made quick work of sorting out who was telling the truth without resorting to Veritaserum or traumatizing legilimency. Even greater numbers of former Death Eaters had crept back into anonymity quietly, glad to still be alive and sane. But the Malfoy family could not do either. Lucius had stood trial and was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in Azkaban and was set to begin his sentence one week after the start of the Hogwarts term to give him the opportunity to see his son off one last time in his final year. Narcissa and Draco were cleared of charges after it was determined, thanks in large part to Harry’s own testimony, that they had acted under duress and had actually assisted him numerous times at great personal risk to their own safety. The trial had been the only time Harry had seen any of the Malfoys during the summer.  
    Taking in Malfoy’s smirking face Harry couldn’t help but notice that the Slytherin looked a bit worse for wear; still impeccably dressed and haughty, but an air of something not quite tangible surrounded him now. Dark circles under his eyes and a determined set to his jaw and posture. Whereas before he had looked cocky and aloof Harry thought he now looked a little uncomfortable. “Potter why are you staring at me? I mean, I understand the view is fantastic but much more and you’ll give me a swollen head.” Draco said, folding up his coat and standing to tuck it into the overhead compartment. “Had a nice summer then? Lovely stay with the ginger brigade?”  
    Admittedly, this was the most civil thing Malfoy had ever said to him so Harry continued to stare wordlessly while mentally kicking himself to look anywhere else. He couldn’t help but notice how tall Malfoy had gotten. He had shot up 6th year but now he had almost a foot on Harry and his build no longer looked scrawny. Every movement he made bespoke a lean strength a bit feline in nature. Harry blushed as he tried to answer.  
“ Er-I uh….I wasn’t expecting you to come back to Hogwarts this year. Just…er that’s not really what I meant. Shit. Hello Malfoy.” Harry stammered growing so frustrated he actually considered standing to leave but the compartment door was sliding open before he could move from his seat.   
“Harry is everything alright, Ginny has just left our compartment seeming really ups- Hermione stopped short upon entering the compartment completely and glanced first at Malfoy and then at Harry and then to her right as Ron walked in just behind her with cakes in his hands.   
“Oh. Malfoy. Uh, so you’re back this year.” Hermione sounded like she was trying very hard to regain her composure. Ron was quite red in the face and had adopted a stiff posture suddenly.  
“Why does that keep surprising everyone?” Malfoy asked, his lips in a tight line as he picked up a book from the seat next to him. “Don’t mind me Granger.”  
“Harry why don’t we speak in the hallway? Ron could you go wait in our compartment? Im sure Ginny will be back soon.” Hermione tugged both boys out into the hallway and slid the door of the compartment shut with a snap.

    “What are you sitting with that scum for Harry?” Ron barely bothered to lower his voice. “Ron!” Hermione’s eyes widened as she rounded on him.   
“It was the only compartment left. I figured you two would appreciate a little private time after staying at Ron’s the past two weeks. Theres never a moment alone there.” Harry said with fond smile as he thought of his pseudo family. The smile slid right off his face when Ron asked “Whats up with Ginny? She came storming in crying and we couldn’t get a word out of her other than to say you two wouldn’t be getting together again.” A lump was forming in Harry’s throat as he thought of how hurt she probably was."Well this isn't really how I meant for this to happen Ron. I'm sorry she's taking it so badly."

    Ron was looking at him like he'd grown another head, the tips of his ears turning red. "So you're really not getting back together with her then? I thought she was just being dramatic. This is awkward." Ron rubbed the back of his neck as Hermione glared a hole in the side of his head. "Tactless. As ever." Hermione said, grabbing the backs of Ron's robes and shoving him mostly gently in the direction of their compartment. "Ginny might come back Ron you should wait for her. Ill be right there." Ron eyed his pair of friends suspiciously but turned and walked towards the rear of the train anyway. After so many years together as friends and now as a couple, Ron knew when to argue and when to listen to Hermione. The almost violent energy radiating from her said this was definitely not a time for argument.

    Harry had only just picked up on her intensity, befuddled as he was by his unexpected conversation with Malfoy and his preoccupation with what Ginny had said to him on the platform. So when Hermione rounded on him with a look of very serious concern, he automatically took a step back from her.  
"Harry. What really happened? I haven't told Ron anything yet but well...Ginny told me more than we told Ron, and I just-"  
"Hermione what exactly are you trying to say? Or trying to ask, rather?" Harry didn't want to be short with her but his patience was running quite thin today and he still had a good 2 hours of sharing a small space with Malfoy to deal with so he couldn't spare any at the moment.  
He wasn't ready for this conversation, wasn't ready to admit aloud what he'd privately struggled against for years.  
    "Ginny said that you weren't attracted to her and never had been. You're my best friend Harry and I know she didn't mean you strung her along like this because she just wasn't your type. Well what I mean to say is, she wasn't your type but it had nothing to do with her personally. I know this is not a comfortable conversation but I just wanted to tell you that ill always be here for you. Even if you think I wouldn't understand or think I won't approve, I'll still be here for you Harry. I understand how you're feeling and I can guess the kinds of things your aunt and uncle believed about gay people but it's not-"  
"Hermione what exactly did Ginny say?" Harry struggled very hard to keep his voice even. He wasn't expecting her to come right out and say it. "Did Ginny tell you I'm gay?"  
Hermione shuffled her feet just a bit. Not enough that anyone else would have noticed it, but Harry was unusually adept at picking up subtle cues and tells that would often go overlooked.  
    "She did, didn't she? I can't believe she would....well I mean that's not to say...er, I mean I'm not admitting to...oh fucking hell Hermione. Alright yeah. It's the truth. " Harry felt a little queasy and the way she had barely reacted to what he'd just said wasn't helping.  
"Well there it is then. Was that as bad as you thought Harry?" She said with a bit of a laugh. "I just came to point out, that even though it's frowned upon in the muggle world, same sex relationships are not all that uncommon or even considered strange in the wizarding world. I understand if you're not ready to tell everyone yet Harry. I just wanted you to know you have my support and that I hate it when you try to keep secrets from me. So please don't. And you should apologize to Ginny for misleading her this summer. Giver her some time to cool off and I'm sure she'll understand."  
    Harry could only gape at her. He could hardly believe he'd blurted out the truth to her like this, and while he wasn't surprised she supported him, he was surprised she was as casual as she was right now. Hermione leaned forward and wrapped Harry in a tight hug. It was nice, just being comforted and reassured like this. Harry thought of Ginny again and all the times she'd comforted him like this and a fresh wave of guilt hit him.  
"Thank you Hermione. Please tell Ginny that I'd like to speak to her, whenever she's ready to talk." Hermione smiled as she pulled away. " Alright Ill tell her. And don't worry, ill let you tell Ron when you're ready. We both know he can be a little difficult."  
  
  
    Harry slid the compartment door open again and sat down, relieved and completely panicked at the same time. Malfoy didn't even glance up from his book when Harry had returned and Harry was just thinking he might be able to tolerate him this year if he kept up this attitude.  
Malfoy turned the page and let out a low soft whistle. "The things you hear when people forget what a silencing charm is for. You didn't ward the door Potter. I must say I'm not entirely surprised but did you really dump she-weasel and out yourself all in one go? That'll make the welcome feast much more entertaining tonight." Malfoy still hadn't looked up from his book once. He nonchalantly turned another page as Harry sputtered.  
"Malfoy if you think you're going to use whatever you think you heard against me then" Harry trailed off angrily, not even sure what to say in response to possibly being blackmailed. "Oh relax Potter. Who would I even tell? The only students in our year still speaking to me are Blaise and Pansy. Blaise will just be thrilled he has a shot at she-weasel and Pansy has been sleeping with Astoria Greengrass since 5th year. Not to mention I'm a well-known switch hitter. Nobody cares Potter." Malfoy smirked at him, and Harry couldn't help but notice that he didn't seem to be mocking him.


	3. Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter but I didn't like how it flowed as part of the previous chapter so here we are.   
> Next chapter will be longer 
> 
> Still unbeta'd  
> Thanks for reading!

    Potter had been left speechless by Draco's little "Welcome to the Club" speech. Draco thought this had to be a first and was tempted to laugh but knew Potter would take it the wrong way if he did so he settled on smirking over his book at Potter's red face.An errant thought flitted through his mind as he watched Potter fidget in his seat, turning his still scarlet face towards the window. Draco had often seen the flush of anger on his former rival but had never seen him embarrassed before. Draco found the expression strangely pleasant for a moment. He mentally shook himself. Nothing about Potter was pleasant. Draco thought perhaps his short stint in Askaban had affected him more than he thought it had, the way he was prone now to notice small things and appreciate them. 

    Even without the Dementors, it had been a crushing experience. The howls of the mad inmates who had been rotting there for years and the wailing sobs of the recently incarcerated mingled into a hellish cacophony that made sleep an unobtainable want. As Draco recalled his first night in the catacombs of the wizards prison his heart began to race. Pinching the bridge of his nose he hoped Potter wouldn't notice his sudden discomfort. 

    A lovely parting gift of the war and the worst year of his young life, the dark mark throbbed and ebbed on his forearm as vividly as it ever had. If he wasn't in control of his emotions, the throb and dull ache would shoot up his arm blossoming into white hot pain as if he was being branded all over again. The pain was all encompassing and felt just like a summons, even though the dark lord was less than dust after having been completely obliterated at the hands of the still flustered young Gryffindor sitting before him and trying very hard to look at anything other than Draco. Coupled with the worsening pain, Potter's demeanor was beyond irritating suddenly. Draco stood up abruptly, his book falling to the floor forgotten, and all but bolted from the compartment, catching Potters confused glance as he passed.As he walked briskly down the long hall, passing compartment after compartment full of classmates who would be at best unhappy to see him and at worst might engage him in duel on the spot, Draco struggled to maintain control. The pain would worsen if he didnt calm down.

   Although, he thought, this was probably past the point of no return already. He reached the loo just in time to rush in and thankfully miss the floor as he retched into the toilet. The burning pain didnt subside but it did recede into just the marked flesh of his arm, a point of flame in ice. His hands shook. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand disgustedly. The pain was a daily reminder of failure and all the wrong choices he had ever made. As much as he had hated the twisted halfblood "Lord" when he was alive, he hated him even more in death with no caster to end the spell and no respite from a never answered summons. He had been tortured before, often as punishment. But the searing of his skin from within anytime he felt uncontrolled was made even more cruel by the necessity that he hide the pain. He would get quite enough attention once he stepped off the scarlet train and quite honestly for the rest of his life as an ex Death Eater without also being thought of as a weak flinging child in the eyes of his peers.

    Draco stood from the filthy floor and swore softly under his breath at the throbbing. He washed his face and was preparing to head back to the compartment full of awkward discomfort when the train slowed to a stop, rumbling beneath his feet. How long had he been sweating on the cold tile floor? He didnt have to wonder very long as the door to the loo swung in and Potter came awkwardly into the room

"Oh, er Malfoy I thought you might have gone to sit with your friends maybe, but you left your stuff. We've arrived already and I thought you looked, well you looked pissed off, but I wasnt sure why."

"And so you came to look for me Potter? Cant say I was expecting that." Draco said with a laugh that sounded more forced than he meant for it to. "Thanks I suppose. I guess I should go change." 

    Potter looked a little sheepish as he passed Dracos bag to him. Draco looked completely suspicious as he took it. Potter left in a hurry; probably anxious to meet up with the other two members of the idiot trio, Draco thought. He changed mechanically into his school robes, but couldnt find his tie anywhere. He assumed he had forgotten to pack it and was supremely irritated at how bad his memory seemed to be getting of late. The dull throb of the mark made his lip curl as he marched determinedly from the restroom to begin what was sure to be a miserable final year in academia.

    Harry took a deep breath as he stepped off of the train. Hermione's reassuring smile and comforting hand on his back did little to soothe his ragged nerves. Hands in the pockets of his robes, he strode forward into his last year as a student. He worried his thumb over the green and black silk of the tie in his pocket.  


End file.
